Stuttgart. The success
story of the Porsche 911 GT3 RSR continues: After winning the 24
hour race in Dubai and holding the championship lead of the Le Mans
Series and the American Le Mans Series, the most successful GT racer
of 2009 has now won the GT2 class of the Le Mans 24 hour race. This
victory at the 78th running of the 24 hour race in Le Mans marks the
98th success for Porsche at the prestigious long distance classic.
For the ninth time, a race car based on the street legal 911 GT3
prevailed over its rivals. Positions three, five, seven and eight
also went to drivers of the 450 hp Porsche. Moreover, the winning
911 also clinched the environmental “Michelin Green X Challenge”
award as the GT car with the best efficiency.

The basis of Porsche’s success was this year again the reliability
of the 911 GT3 RSR. Refuelling, new tyres, driver changes – the
mechanics of the winning German Felbermayr-Proton had nothing more
to do from start to finish. With consistent lap times, works drivers
Marc Lieb (Germany), Richard Lietz (Austria) and Wolf Henzler
(Germany) held a two-lap advantage over the second-placed Ferrari.
“Pivotal for victory was that we had no technical problems and spent
the least amount of time in the pits. This win was a team effort,”
said Marc Lieb, who celebrated his third Porsche GT2 win in Le Mans
after 2005 and 2006. Richard Lietz took home the coveted winners’
trophy for the second time after 2007.

Porsche’s success is all the more remarkable due to the fact that
the 78th edition of the 24 hour race was one of the toughest in the
history of the classic. The GT3 class in particular was excellently
supported and fiercely contested with seven manufacturers and 18
race vehicles. With this victory, Porsche relegated its strong
opponents Ferrari, BMW, Chevrolet Corvette, Jaguar and Spyker to
spots further down the field.

Celebrations were also in full swing in the Porsche camp with the
overall victory of Porsche works drivers Timo Bernhard (Germany) and
Romain Dumas (France), who manned the cockpit of an Audi R15 TDI
with the former Porsche Junior and ex-Porsche works driver Mike
Rockenfeller (Germany). At the flag, they held a one-lap advantage
over the second-placed Audi.

Hartmut Kristen, Head of Porsche Motorsport, commented: “We
experienced an incredibly exciting race this weekend, especially in
the GT2 class. I’m delighted that the Felbermayr-Proton squad won
both the GT2 class as well as the “Michelin Green X Challenge”. This
shows that we’re on the right path with our philosophy of Porsche
Intelligent Performance. I’m also thrilled with the results of the
other Porsche customer teams. They put up a great fight and earned
their good positions. I’m proud as well of the three drivers in the
winning Audi. Congratulations to them and the entire Audi team.”

Porsche Junior Marco Holzer (Germany) and his teammates in the BMS
Scuderia Italia team, Richard Westbrook (Great Britain) and Timo
Scheider (Germany), were also over the moon with their third in
class. All three drivers contested the Le Mans 24 Hours for the
first time. For the double DTM champion Scheider, this was his first
outing with a Porsche 911 GT3 RSR. “For us, it’s a dream come true,”
said 21-year-old Holzer. “Le Mans is the most important long
distance race in the world – and we climbed the podium at our debut.
That’s sensational.”

The crew of the French IMSA Performance Matmut team had mixed
feelings about their fifth position. Works drivers Patrick Pilet
(France) and Patrick Long (USA) with teammate Raymond Narac (France)
had kept up with the winning Porsche trio until the morning hours
only to be held up by a clutch problem. “Today is a great day for
Porsche and I’m pleased about that,” said Pilet. “But of course
we’re a little disappointed not to celebrate a podium result at our
home race.”

Elation amongst the driver squads of both 911 GT3 RSR that finished
seventh and eighth as well: Both 911 were manned by gentlemen
drivers. Finishing seventh were Dutchmen Paul van Splunteren and
Niek Hommerson as well as Belgian Louis Machiels for the ProSpeed
Competition team, followed by the second Felbermayr 911 with drivers
Horst Felbermayr Senior and Junior (both Austria) and Slovakia’ s
Miroslav Konopka in eighth.

Only one of the six 911 GT3 RSR to contest the race didn’t manage to
reach the flag: The 911 of the American Flying Lizard Motorsport
squad with drivers Darren Law, Seth Neiman (both USA) and works
driver Joerg Bergmeister (Germany) retired after an accident.

The 55-strong grid
line-up for the Le Mans 24 Hours is made up of two different sports
car categories: Sports prototypes and modified standard sports cars.
The technical regulations of the long distance classic are the basis
for the European Le Mans Series (LMS) and the American Le Mans
Series (ALMS). All race cars take off at the same time in Le Mans.
There is an overall classification and classifications for each
class.